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NEWS
BRIEFS
Sadly , it is now only a month until the National Motorcycle Museum in Anamosa , Iowa will close its doors permanently , on September 5 . Mecum Auctions will be handling the sale of the John Parham Collection from September 6-9 . There will be over 300 collector-grade motorcycles and over 1,000 lots of road art offered for sale to the highest bidder . In total , over 6,000 pieces will be offered .
Harley-Davidson has moved to fill the vacancy left by former CFO Gina Goetter ' s decision to leave the company with Jonathan Root , SVP of Harley- Davidson Financial Services ( HDFS ) appointed as the permanent Chief Financial Officer .
My , how times change . Following its announcement of a deal with Bell Helicopters to host the first ever Sturgis Helicopter Rally , the Buffalo Chip has partnered with Temecula , California based MotoDoffo Wines to release a " Rally Red " limited edition wine as the Official Wine of the Sturgis Buffalo Chip . The speciallylabeled Cabernet Sauvignon is now available for online orders .
Marc McAllister , President and CEO , Tucker Powersports has confirmed that Tucker will again support AIMExpo at Las Vegas , February 6-8 , 2024 . " Tucker recognizes the importance of coming together as an industry and is proud to have a major presence at AIMExpo ," said McAllister . " To share ideas , to connect with our dealers , to create inspiration , to showcase new products , and to strengthen our partnerships – it ' s important for us and the entire industry to be there "; www . aimexpousa . com
Japanese ' Big Four ' Join Forces on Hydrogen
By Ben Purvis
Despite years of trying , there ' s still no clear solution to the packaging problems associated with building battery-powered motorcycles - particularly when it comes to highperformance or long-range machines - as even the best battery technology is still several orders of magnitude worse than gasoline when it comes to energydensity . As a result , companies are looking for other routes to the goal of carbon neutrality , and now Japan ' s ' Big Four ' have joined forces to pursue the idea of hydrogen-fueled motorcycles . Hydrogen can be used in two ways to power bikes . It can be burnt , like petrol , in an internal combustion engine , or it can be used in a hydrogen fuel cell to replace the batteries of an electric bike . The new Japanese project - dubbed ' HySE ' - focuses on the former . Each company has a specific role to play in the project . Honda is concentrating on ' model-based ' development of the hydrogen-powered engines themselves - i . e . computer simulations - while Suzuki is responsible for studying their functionality , performance and reliability . Meanwhile , Yamaha and Kawasaki Motors , which both already have experience of hydrogen combustion engines , are working on ' hands-on ' research with real prototypes . Yamaha is also tackling the difficult subject of developing a hydrogen refueling system and the hydrogen tanks that would be needed on ' small mobility ' vehicles , including motorcycles . The four are being supported by two industry giants , Toyota and Kawasaki Heavy Industries , both with their own hydrogen infrastructure projects . Kawasaki Motors has been the most outspoken of the Japanese ' Big Four ' as an advocate of hydrogen combustion engines and had previously been working on the technology in partnership with Yamaha . Kawasaki has already shown designs for a hydrogen-fueled , supercharged fourcylinder sports-touring bike , using an engine derived from the 1000 cc four in its H2 model . A prototype for the engine
' working together on hydrogen-powered motorcycle engines '
has also been shown already , modified to include direct fuel injection . Both forced-induction and direct injection are essential in small , highperformance hydrogen-fueled combustion engines . The former because , while hydrogen is more energy-dense than petrol , weight-for-weight , it needs much more air in the mixture . A turbo or supercharger compresses the air to get more into the cylinder . The direct injection is also vital , as it means the hydrogen can be added after the valves are closed without displacing air that ' s already in the combustion chamber . Yamaha has also been working on hydrogen combustion engines , developing a V8 that ' s used in a Toyota racing car in Japan . Huge problems remain when it comes to making hydrogen a viable fuel for motorcycles . While it ' s carbon-neutral when it burns , with water being the main component of the exhaust , it ' s very energy-intensive to get hydrogen from water via electrolysis , and other forms of hydrogen come from processes that create their own pollution . The storage and transport of hydrogen also poses significant problems , as it needs to be cryogenically stored at incredibly low temperatures to reach liquid form or placed under huge pressure to get a substantial amount into a tank . Even as a liquid , it ' s far less efficient , volumetrically , than petrol - you ' d need a substantially larger fuel tank to get the same range , leading to weight and packaging problems that are not dissimilar to those faced by battery-powered electric bikes . These are among the challenges facing the HySE project . Its chairman , Kenji Komatsu , who ' s also Executive Officer of Technical Research and Development at Yamaha Motor , said : " We are extremely pleased to announce the planned formation of the association . There are many challenges in the development of hydrogen-powered engines , but we hope to see the association ' s activities advance the fundamental research in order to meet those challenges . " We are committed to this endeavor with a sense of mission to preserve the use of internal combustion engines , which epitomize the long-time efforts that our predecessors have invested ."